Vittoria Aleotti

Vittoria Aleotti

Italian Augustinian nun, composer and organist
Country: Italy

Biography of Vittoria Aleotti

Vittoria Aleotti was an Italian nun of the Augustinian order, as well as a composer and organist. Some researchers believe that Vittoria Aleotti (c. 1575 – after 1620) and Raffaella Aleotti (c. 1570 – after 1646) are the same person, while others dispute this claim.

Early Life and Education
Vittoria was born in Ferrara, into the family of the renowned and respected architect Giovanni Battista Aleotti. However, she is not mentioned in his will dated 1631. According to her father, Vittoria became interested in music by listening to her older sister's lessons. Within a year, she learned to play instruments, particularly the harpsichord, and her voice was so good that she was sent to study with Alessandro Milleville, a French composer and organist who had achieved fame in Italy, and his student Ercole Pasquini in Ferrara.

Entry into the Monastery
At the age of 6 or 7, after studying with Pasquini, Vittoria's parents were offered the opportunity to send her to San Vito, a local monastery known for its talented students. When she turned 14, Vittoria made the decision to permanently enter the monastery and dedicate her life to serving God. Giovanni Battista Aleotti had five daughters, and while there are no records of a daughter named Raffaella, it is presumed that Vittoria changed her name, as often happens when a woman decides to become a nun. Researchers are divided into two roughly equal camps, with some believing that Vittoria and Raffaella were two different sisters, while others are convinced that they were the same woman.

Confusion with Names
This confusion with names is due to Giovanni Aleotti, who wrote a dedication for Vittoria in her only published collection of musical works. In it, he speculates that while his eldest daughter was preparing to become a nun and taking music lessons, his younger daughter Vittoria also developed a love for music. This has led most music historians to believe that Vittoria and Raffaella were two different women. Supporting this claim is the fact that it is highly unlikely, almost impossible, for the same woman to publish two music collections under different names with compositions of different styles. Furthermore, it is noted that while Vittoria entrusted her father to write the dedication for her works, Raffaella wrote her dedication herself, indicating differences in the characters of the two sisters.

Legacy
It should also be noted that while nothing further is known about Vittoria after 1593, and no documents about her fate have been preserved, Raffaella, an outstanding organist and composer who later became the abbess of the monastery, gained immense fame due to her musical abilities. In 1591, Vittoria published her only madrigal, "Di pallide Viole," in the musical anthology "Il giardino de musici ferraresi." Two years later, she set eight poems by Giovanni Battista Guarini to music, which her father later sent to Count del Zaffo, who printed them in Venice with Giacomo Vincenti, a bookseller and music publisher. The collection of madrigals was called "Ghirlanda de madrigali a quatro voci." In the same year, Raffaella published a collection of motets. Printed in 1593 by Amadino, "Sacrae cantiones quinque, septem, octo, & decem vocibus decantande" became the first published collection of sacred music by a woman.

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